After Young Thug’s cryptic “Chapter ended” post on X, rumours of his breakup with fellow artist Mariah the Scientist started up. Howard students have observed how the couple’s music and artists like them shape listeners’ thoughts about love and relationships.
With the relationship’s imperfections revealed, some fans are concerned about Mariah’s lyrics to describe Young Thug and their relationship in her recent album, “Hearts Sold Separately,” which was released in late August.
Taylor Allen, a second-year psychology major and Mariah fan, describes the recent “Hearts Sold Separately” album as a battlefield of love.
“It covers how women are punished for loving too hard with the mission of being the best lover girl,” Allen said. “Through this mission of being the best lovergirl, she’s been hurt on the battlefield through the conflict of those trying to prevent her from being a lovergirl and the judgment she has received for doing so.”
With the extended reference to a soldier depicted on the album’s front cover, Allen voices how the record presents the act of loving regardless of how hard the fight is.
What began as fans speculating strains within the relationship following multiple cheating allegations on leaked jail calls is now a broader conversation on campus about the role music plays in setting relationship expectations and influencing culture at large.
“Hallelujah. I feel like if a man can publicly embarrass you, who knows what he’s capable of doing behind closed doors,” Allen said in response to the alleged breakup. “He’s always embarrassing her. He cheated on her, and she held him down for two to three years, and he couldn’t give her a single ounce of loyalty.”
The situation regarding the two artists has been making its rounds on social media platforms. Fans are discussing how the album goes on to represent relationships today, speaking of the conflict that comes with beautifying “toxic” love.
Lyrics from Mariah’s “Rainy Days”, such as “I’ve put forth an open heart, and I’ve been hurt. Looking back in retrospect, that ain’t what I deserve,” and “I pray for love instead of common sense,” surround this narrative.
Haili Zion, a sophomore music performance major with a concentration in jazz, said music has a clear impact, especially within the Black community.
Zion said that her learning journey began with blues and jazz and how these genres influenced other genres, such as rock’ n roll, country, pop, soul and R&B.
“Music has an impact in every culture, whether it is religious music, sacred music and popular music,” Zion said. “You can see the impact of music specifically when you look at Black people and the influence that our music has had on American culture.”
Caroll V. Dashiell, Jr., is the chair of the Department of Music. Coming from a lineage of musical talent, she feels that music’s impact goes beyond what one hears.
“I think it’s a spiritual thing, and that it affects everybody. A lot of times, people think it’s just the lyric, but it’s not just the lyric. It’s the sound that gets in your body. You don’t necessarily hear music, you feel it,” Dashiell said.
Dashiell highlights the music therapy degree offered by Howard, the only HBCU currently offering the program. Music therapy involves working with mental, physical and emotional patients, using music to interact with and treat diagnoses.
Lora Robinson, a board-certified music therapist and coordinator of the university’s music therapy program, said Black women in particular may feel a strong pull towards lyrics that mirror their own experiences.
“Lots of people can relate to feeling like they’re in a relationship or feeling that they can’t have more, better or different. So staying in is like a badge of honor, almost of ‘Oh, because I stayed, maybe I’ll reap the benefits of that person changing, evolving or finally seeing me,’” Robinson said.
She explained that when listeners connect with a lyric, it can validate their emotions and make them feel more comfortable experiencing what they do. Once released, however, songs are no longer under the artist’s control.
“When you’re dealing with artists and creatives, music is kind of like their diary and their space to be open and vulnerable,” Robinson said. “They push their music out there, so not only are you raw and vulnerable in the creative space, but now you’re putting it out there for the consumption of other people who can interpret it however they want.”
When it comes to the impact of music on relationships, Allen and Zion believe it plants narratives and expectations about what love should look like.
“If you look at people like Sexxy Red, they kind of play into…a caricature of Black women, and it’s toxic not only as an image for young Black girls and Black women, but it also normalizes this behavior, leading to these things becoming the expectations of Black women,” Zion says.
Allen mentions artists such as Chris Brown, Bryson Tiller and Brent Faiyaz, noting how they casually sing about cheating. She believes this music normalizes the lifestyle of being unfaithful.
“I don’t think Black female artists are trying to glamorize toxic relationships. I feel like they’re just trying to express how they feel, but how they feel imposes the questions of, ‘Why are we allowing women to think it’s okay to feel this way? Why are so many young women relating to feeling this bad about themselves and men?’” Allen said.
Copy edited by Damenica Ellis
